RCR moving on in 2014

Monday

Jul 15, 2013 at 9:52 PM

In recent days, Budweiser announced their colors and financial backing will go with Kevin Harvick to Stewart-Haas Racing when he leaves Richard Childress Racing at season's end. Harvick's cars have carried the beer brand on the No. 29 RCR Chevrolets since 2011.

ben white

In recent days, Budweiser announced their colors and financial backing will go with Kevin Harvick to Stewart-Haas Racing when he leaves Richard Childress Racing at season's end. Harvick's cars have carried the beer brand on the No. 29 RCR Chevrolets since 2011. Harvick's Chevrolets will carry No. 4 next season with a crew chief to be named at a later date. Under the terms of the deal, Budweiser will serve as primary sponsor for 20 races as well as the Budweiser Duel during Budweiser Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway next February. Budweiser will serve as a major associate sponsor for the remaining 16 races on the Sprint Cup Series schedule.Thus far, Harvick has earned 21 Sprint Cup Series wins, 96 top-five and 198 top-10 finishes to his credit-all in RCR Chevys. His biggest wins have come with a Brickyard 400 win at Indianapolis in 2003 and the Daytona 500 win in 2007. Harvick has known all season he was going to move to Stewart's Kannapolis-based team. The California native realizes how difficult sponsorship moves can be. He has been adamant about racing hard for RCR this season in hopes of winning races and the Cup championship before he leaves. This far, he was wins this season at Richmond and Charlotte. He and Childress are seemingly parting on good terms."…I think it was important for both sides to have the 29 car be competitive and winning races and doing the things that we've been able to do this year," Harvick said at New Hampshire. "It was just part of the deal. We didn't want to be involved in it, we wanted to make sure that we finished our role at RCR on a positive note so on the sponsorship side; I hadn't even met any of the guys at SHR. "The deal was done between my guys and Tony's (Stewart) guys and honestly, I think Tony and I had maybe two conversations about it. It was just something that we knew we wanted to do and we left it up to our people to try to make it all work. It will be interesting to finally meet all those guys and see how it all went down and understand it all. It's been a different process, but we both knew that's what we wanted to do."According to ESPN.com, Childress is planning on fielding at least three teams in 2014. There has been speculation that RCR might shrink from three to two teams after losing Harvick and primary sponsor Budweiser to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. That doesn't seem to be the case. Childress told ESPN.com last Friday at New Hampshire that he will have a lineup of Jeff Burton, Paul Menard and a "question mark" at this point for the third driver. "We're going to have three race teams for sure. Not 100 percent on a fourth," Childress said.Several drivers are in the mix. Childress' grandson, Austin Dillon, an up and coming driver who has six Cup starts this season, is running the full Nationwide Series this year with much speculation that a move would come in 2014. Ryan Newman will be leaving Stewart's team in November and is a top candidate for the No. 29 Chevrolet being vacated by Harvick. Newman has a strong relationship with his primary sponsor, Quicken Loans, and could possibly negotiate to take the sponsorship to RCR. Kurt Busch has also been linked to RCR, in part since his current team, Furniture Row Racing, is aligned with RCR from an engineering standpoint. Sources have told ESPN.com that RCR has a gentleman's agreement not to pursue Busch. The Las Vegas native is ninth in points and could be signed to a contract extension past 2013 if the No. 78 team makes the Chase. Why is Harvick going to drive for Stewart's team? Sometimes, a job move can rejuvenate a person's career. "I think for me the Stewart Haas piece was intriguing just for the fact that you have Tony (Stewart) as a teammate who's been a big part of what we did at KHI to get it started," Harvick said. "We have a friendship that goes beyond the race track and I think obviously Gene Haas makes it very intriguing with the guarantees that he made to make the deal happen. (Haas will) put the car on the race track and when you have a family and you start seeing those guarantees of sponsorship for the car, it makes you think about things. I think not only those two pieces, but the Hendrick tie with the engines and the support, understanding that I think the potential is really high with all those resources and relationships and things that go with it."Corporate sponsorships constantly change within NASCAR circles. Childress is already planning for the 2014 season with new sponsorship prospects in the works. He has faced corporate moves many times as a driver and team owner over the past 40 years. He most certainly will look at the driver and sponsorship changes for 2014 as a new chapter in RCR's championship history. Ben White is a motorsports columnist for The Dispatch.